10 Things You Don’t Know About Me

A friend of mine challenged me to share more about myself on the blog. “People don’t get to see the real you,” he told me.

I don’t know if this is a good idea or not, but here are 10 things you probably don’t know about me:

I am a transplanted Yankee. I moved to this area after a particularly bad winter. My two criteria for where I would live? I had to have a fraternity chapter (see #6) and it had to be below the snow line. I had visited this area and found the climate and atmosphere wonderful.

As much as I love my home state, I miss the Midwest. I was born and bred in farm country. I like driving past dairy farms and fields of grain. I love the fresh cheese and good-tasting beef. And I miss the city where I attended university, with its progressive thinking and varied art life.

I detest vacuuming. I once told my husband I would rather give birth than vacuum. He thought I was kidding. I wasn’t (much). Whenever I kill another Roomba, I always struggle with the money outlay to replace it. In the end my distaste for the chore outweighs the price of a not-so-reliable device. Always.

I don’t “get” Andy Warhol. Or very much other art. I prefer photographs. Living with an art historian, I have developed an appreciation for paintings and other art over the years. I can tell you what I like and don’t like, but I have yet to grasp “artistic merit”. Even after years of being exposed to it, I simply don’t see the art in an overgrown soup can.

I love being near water, but not on or in it. I learned how to swim early, but never felt at home in the water. Couple this with being thrown out of every boat I have put foot into, I am just not a water sport person. Since I live near the ocean, this is quite ironic.

I am a brother in a fraternity. Even though I am female, I am a full member of an engineering fraternity. Not an associate, not a sister, and not a little sister. I am addressed as “Brother”. And if we really want to get confusing, my maid of honor at my wedding is also my brother. And female as well. 🙂

I am an introvert. It’s easy to imagine I have outgrown this since I spend so much time “talking” on the blog, but I am still very much an introvert. (By Midwestern standards I’m an extrovert because I look at other people’s shoes when I talk). Particularly bad are social situations where I am interacting with people I have almost nothing in common with.

I love raking leaves. I find something very soothing in the drawing of the rake, making piles, and scooping them up into the compost. I prefer to do this without music, as well, just listening to the sound of the wind and the birds.

I spend an hour a month on poison ivy patrol. I never used to worry about poison ivy. I knew what it looked like, and stayed away from it. Then last summer I yanked some out of a garden bed, counting the leaves after I had it in my hand. That I was wearing gloves, long sleeves and long pants didn’t make a difference. I spent 5 weeks on oral steroids because it turns out I am highly allergic to it. Now I spend an hour a month with the Roundup Poison Ivy pump and spray anything that remotely looks like poison ivy.

I have never been able to complete a self-study course. I love the idea of learning, especially learning at my own pace. But even though I have purchased several courses in the past years, I have not managed to effectively start any of them. Apparently without externally imposed due dates, I lack the motivation to complete a course. So they languish on my Someday list.

And this concludes the weirdness that is this Thursday’s post. Comment below if you wish. 🙂

I think the difference between raking and vacuuming is that a) raking has to be done once or twice a year, and vacuuming around here at least once a week and b) with leaves you can see the difference — not so much with vacuuming.

As far as the Roomba working, well, I’ve lost count of how many I have killed. The last two have committed suicide, throwing themselves down my stairs. Apparently vacuuming my house was too overwhelming for them. I found them at the bottom of the stairs, pieces broken off…

I have high hopes for this latest one because it is a (refurbished) higher-end model, and it seems to have more built in self-protection. And it tells me when I need to unclog things, which is really nice.